


Freeloader

by Andramion



Series: A Week's Worth of HinaKen [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Supernatural Creatures, idk what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 19:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5016538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andramion/pseuds/Andramion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Kenma.” There’s only a breath’s pause. “Kenma. Say ‘Kenma’.”</p><p>“Kuro,” Kenma starts, “It’s not going to happen.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freeloader

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ackermanx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ackermanx/gifts).



"Kenma." There's only a breath's pause. "Kenma. Say 'Kenma'."

"Kuro," Kenma starts, "It's not going to happen."

From the other side of the bedroom, Kuro squints at him and then pretends to pout. Or well, he does it, but Kenma knows he's being silly. Or being Kuro, but that mightbe the same thing anyway.

"You don't know," Kuro tells him and he turns back around to the box on Kenma's desk. "Crows are supposed to besmart fellows, you know."

A small rasp of a sound comes from the cardboard box, as though the bird agrees with Kuro. When Kenma leans to the side to look around Kuro, he can only just see the tip of its beak peak out from above the edge.

"Just leave it alone," he says, staring at that little black triangle as it opens and closes in response to the faces Kuro pulls at it."You've been trying for over a week, I don't think this one is as smart as the ones your read about. Maybe the smart ones are rare."

Another rasp, and this time Kenma would swear it sounded indignant. The sound is soon masked by Kuro's voice again, though.

"And you've been keeping it here for a week. Don't you think you should take it to the wildlife centre I told you about? Especially if it's hurt."

Kenma bristles at the suggestion, his shoulders coming up as he curls in on himself.

"It's not hurt." He looks away, again, even though it's Kuro, even though he doesn't normally feel the need to defend himself around him. "I'm just helping it out while it's tired."

He doesn't know why he's so particular about his one bird, why he feels the need to take care of it all by himself. Maybe it's because he's the one who found it, lying down on the road and unable to fly away as Kenma tried to shoo it to the side. That's what he told himself when he ignored Kuro's text messages with the wildlife centre’s contact information, that's what he told himself when he dug through the earth of the empty lot down the street to forage worms to feed it and what he made himself believe when he looked away as he squished them on a plate with a fork. Luckily, he'd found out it would just as happily eat fruit, picking away at Kenma's leftover apple core, so that experience didn't have to be repeated.

"Kenma..." Kuro's voice is low, patient, the tone he takes when he's going to try to convince Kenma of something, and Kenma suppresses the urge to cover his ears and let out a chorus of lalala's.

Somehow, though, Kuro's lecture starts with a "Kuro, stop bugging Kenma" that doesn't sound like it's Kuro's voice at all and is followed by a "HOLY FUCK!!" shouted through the room in a voice that sounds very much like Kuro's own.

And now there's a third person in Kenma's apartment, of which the front door is definitely locked and which most definitely only held two people just before. Kuro's on the floor, back up against Kenma's bed and chest heaving air in and out of his lungs quickly and Kenma wonders if it's morbid that he's even paying attention to that when there's a naked person in his room telling his best friend to leave him alone.

"Uhm," he says, because even though it must be easier to not be the one naked person in a company of three, Kenma's kind of lost for words. Then: "I'm okay," since it seems this person materialised just to tell Kuro to fuck off for him.

The person lifts their head and Kenma starts at the intensity in their eyes as they take him in.

"Are you sure?" The voice sounds a little gravelly, rough, like they haven't spoken in ages. Kenma nods.

Suddenly, the heavy mood lifts as a smile lights up their face and Kenma almost takes a step back. They let out a laugh and Kenma watches as they turn to him completely. He wills his gaze to remain above shoulder-level.

"Ahahaha, well good. I was a little scared I'd have to actually do something, haha." Their eyes grow big as they gesture to Kuro. "Have you seen this guy? I thought, _'Well Shouyou, hopefully just shifting will scare the crap out of him and if he punches you at least you tried'_! I'm really glad he didn't though."

As the person... _youkai?_ Kenma thinks, and wonders if he should adjust his idea of what is real and what is fiction in this world... keeps talking, Kenma glances at Kuro again, who is looking up at him wide-eyed and if he'd dared to speak, Kenma's sure he'd ask him how Kenma is staying calm even in this situation.

Though it's not like Kenma isn't surprised at that himself. Maybe it's because he realises this is the same... being as the crow that's been sleeping on his desk all week, maybe it’s because after chatting away at it for a week, Kenma feels like he can trust them.

Heat crawls up his neck when he realises that this person, whoever they are, has heard him talk about everything, must remember all the embarrassing thoughts Kenma let out late at night when he was curled up in his bed, thinking out loud and smiling slightly whenever he heard a little crow in response.

"I..." Kenma searches for words, his eyes darting around the room again, anywhere but at the wide expanse of skin showing in front of him, until they settle on the bright orange mop of fluff on top of their head. _Their hair looks so soft,_ Kenma thinks and he wonders whether it'd feel like actual hair if he'd reach out and touch it, or if it'd give off the same sensation as the feathers did when Kenma scratched the crow's head every time he walked past it.

The thought leads to images of the past week flashing through Kenma's head: snapshots of him feeding the bird, of it sitting on his shoudler and cuddling up to his neck, of Kenma trying to think of a reason to keep it with him.

"Are you a tengu?" is the intelligent thought that next leaks out through his mouth and if he'd been prone to slapping his forehead, his skin would be reeling by now.

"What? Nononononononoooo! No, hold on, I'm just your average crow-who-turns-into-a-guy." His face scrunches up in a way Kenma can't help but think of as cute. "Or guy-who-turns-into-a-crow? I can't really remember what I was first."

Much faster than Kenma can react to, the guy moves in closer and somehow, Kenma doesn't flinch when he's suddenly right in front of his face, hands around Kenma's fingers and eyes looking right up at him.

"Thank you for taking care of me! You see, even though I really hate that this isn't over yet, our - I mean us shifters - our teenage years are a little... unstable and I really thought I was done with all of that since I’m not, you know, a teenager anymore, but I got stuck in that form and...."

He looks away and Kenma - still looking at his face and refusing to think of the warmth radiating off of the guy's body - can hear him shuffle his feet.

"And..." he continues, ".. and I realised I could turn back a few days ago but.. I really enjoyed being here... with you... and I wanted to get to know you better. It’s not like I have anywhere to be so I thought.. I could just… be a crow a little longer."

His shoulders sag and Kenma feels the sudden urge to do anything, anything really, to make him stop deflating.

"You can stay," Kenma says promptly, before his brain can catch up to him, and those vibrant eyes turn on him again, the bright smile making something squirm in Kenma's stomach.

"Really?"

Kenma nods and leans over a bit, presses their foreheads together. "Yeah."

A cough sounds from Kenma's right, but he ignores the sound in favour of looking at the hands wrapped around his own, and he moves his palms until they're pressing together, until he can hook his fingers with Shouyou's.

"Well... after you're done being grossly sappy with your brand new freaky supernatural fur-- feathery boyfriend, can we please talk about how really fucking weird this all is?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are very welcome, so feel free to let me know what you thought!


End file.
